The Future of Renting vs. Buying

We are clearly seeing a trend towards businesses outsourcing functions of what they do. Manufacturing is an obvious one, but there are countless other examples.

Businesses are getting out of manufacturing, staffing, etc.

Uber will soon let you get rid of your car

Residents are hiring others to clean their apartments

Apple is now going to let you rent your iPhone

I think there is a far more significant trend taking place within technology, within business, and even within performance efficiency in general—for both personal and business.

The trend is that people will only perform themselves the thing that differentiates them from others. Everything else will be given to others to manage.

For companies, that means having a core set of business leaders who create and initiate the execution of ideas. For people it means creating art or music or some other type of core value.

But everything that isn’t that will likely be handed off to those that specialize in that thing. There will be services for everything.

Finding you dates

Finding you the best employees

Picking the best place for you to eat tonight

Choosing a college

Doing your laundry

Building your widget

Patenting your idea

These are things that people and businesses used to do themselves, and that’s about to go away.

At the center of a business or person’s focus rings is the defining push of one’s life or business. As the rings go outward they become increasingly separated from the concept itself, and therefore more outsourceable.

Expect both high-performing businesses and individuals to increasingly spend time on the center, and farm out the rest.